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- the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia
Cottenham is a 2,927 hectare civil parish centred upon a village of the same name within the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is one of a number of villages that make up the historical Fen Edge region in between Cambridge and Ely. These were originally settlements on the shore of the marshes close to the city of Cambridge, then an inland port.
Cottenham and other Fen Edge villages have increased in population as the city of Cambridge has continued to develop to the north of the River Cam. Cottenham lies five miles north of the city of Cambridge, bordered by the parishes of Histon and Impington to the south. It is now one of the larger dormitory villages surrounding the city of Cambridge. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 UK census was 6,095.
History
For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Cottenham#History.
The Wikipedia article describes in detail the geography of the local area and the process by which the fenland was gradually drained between the mediavel period and the 19th centuries.
The following description from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72 is provided by the website A Vision of Britain Through Time (University of Portsmouth Department of Geography).
- " COTTENHAM, a village and a parish in Chesterton [registration] district, Cambridgeshire. The village stands 2 miles S of the Old West river, 3¾ NW of Waterbeach [railway] station, and 6¾ N of Cambridge; and has a post office under Cambridge. It is the place where the monks of the abbot of Croyland [Crowlands], in the early part of the 12th century, established courses of lectures which resulted in a regular system of academical education at Cambridge; it was damaged by fire, to the value of about £100,000, in the spring of 1850; and it gives the title of Baron and Earl to the family of Pepys.
- "The parish comprises 7,107 acres. Real property: £16,489. Population: 2,415. Houses: 526. The property is much subdivided. The manor belonged, in the beginning of the 12th century, to Geoffry, abbot of Croyland.
- "The land was long famous for pasture, and for the produce of a fine cream cheese, called the Cottenham cheese. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ely. Value: £770. Patron: the Bishop of Ely. The church is later English, and consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with a lofty tower. There are four dissenting chapels. A free school, founded in 1703, by Catherine Pepys, has £153 from endowment; and other charities have £375. Archbishop Tenison and Lord Chancellor Cottenham were natives."
Research Tips
- Original historical documents relating to Cambridgeshire are now held by Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies at Shire Hall, Ely, Cambridgeshire, CB7 4GS
- The Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire Family History Society has transcribed the parish registers for many if not all the ancient parishes of Cambridgeshire and these can be purchased from the Society as separate pdfs.
- A History of the County of Cambridge. Seven volumes from British History Online (Victoria County Histories). This is by far the most complete history of the parishes of the county to be found online. From the numbering it would appear that some parts of the county are yet to be published online, but the first two volumes for any county are of little interest to the genealogist. The chapters are ordered by the divisions of the county called hundreds, but each parish is listed in the volume's content page.
- A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 3, the City (Cambridge) and University of Cambridge (published 1959)
- A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 4, City of Ely; North Ely and South Ely, Witchford and Wisbech Hundreds (the cathedral city and liberty of Ely and the rural areas to the west and northwest, including the port of Wisbech) (published 2002)
- A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 5, the Hundreds of Longstowe and Wetherley, west of Cambridge (published 1973)
- A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 6, the three Hundreds of Chilford, Radfield and Whittlesford (in the south of the county, on the border with Essex) (published 1978)
- A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 8, Armingford and Thriplow Hundreds (south and west of Cambridge) (published 1982)
- A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 9, Chesterton, Northstowe, and Papworth Hundreds (the suburban and rural areas to the north and northwest of Cambridge) (published 1989)
- A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 10, Cheveley, Flendish, Staine and Staploe Hundreds (northeastern Cambridgeshire) (published 2002)
- GENUKI has a page on Cambridgeshire and pages for each of the ecclesiastical or ancient parishes in the county. These give references to other organizations who hold genealogical information for the local area. Each parish page includes a map of the parish provided by Open Street Maps.
- The FamilyTree Wiki has a series of pages similar to those provided by GENUKI which may have been prepared at a later date.
- A Vision of Britain through Time, section "Units and Statistics" for each parish and borough leads to analyses of population and organization of the county from about 1800 through 1974.
- Map of Cambridgeshire divisions in 1888 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time
- Map of Cambridge divisions in 1944 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time
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